The subject matter disclosed herein relates to semiconductors and, more specifically, to methods for designing and fabricating silicon carbide (SiC) devices with specific terrestrial cosmic ray (TCR) ratings.
This section is intended to introduce the reader to various aspects of art that may be related to various aspects of the present disclosure, which are described and/or claimed below. This discussion is believed to be helpful in providing the reader with background information to facilitate a better understanding of the various aspects of the present disclosure. Accordingly, it should be understood that these statements are to be read in this light, and not as admissions of prior art.
Power devices, such as diodes, power MOSFETs, insulated-gate bipolar transistor (IGBTs), and the like are used in a variety of power conversion systems. Such devices in space, high altitude, and terrestrial systems are vulnerable to destructive single event burnout (SEB) induced by energetic particles. Operation of the various power devices may be impacted by terrestrial cosmic rays (TCR). For example, TCR exposure can cause a power device to fail in an undesirable fashion, which may lead to equipment/system malfunction and/or damage. Additionally, certain applications may specify that power devices with a certain TCR failure rate rating are to be used in particular equipment.